Hey all. Need you guys to send some thoughts/prayers out for my uncle. He was just diagnosed with esophageal cancer. His doc said he has maybe a 1 of 4 chance to kick its ass. He starts chemo this week going 5 times a week. They are going to have to put a feeding tube in him because his esophagous will swell shut with the chemo and radiation. Hes a pretty strong dude and stubborn as all hell so I am hoping he gets through this.

Hey Man,
We never talked before but thoughts and prayers go out too out. I lost my father to cancer 6 yrs now. Miss him a ton. Be strong. And I hope he gets better. Sorry if my post was alittle down. Only mean good thoughts.

Hey all. Need you guys to send some thoughts/prayers out for my uncle. He was just diagnosed with esophageal cancer. His doc said he has maybe a 1 of 4 chance to kick its ass. He starts chemo this week going 5 times a week. They are going to have to put a feeding tube in him because his esophagous will swell shut with the chemo and radiation. Hes a pretty strong dude and stubborn as all hell so I am hoping he gets through this.

Thanks everyone

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Aaron, prayers and thoughts your way from a TW friend. Stay strong for him!

Ouch Aaron sorry to hear this. He is going to be on tube throughout all of the chemo?

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Yeah. He is going to have to stay on the tube throughout the whole thing. From what I heard, the mass is right where the esophagus connects to the stomach. Not great with my anatomy so I could be wrong. They have to connect pretty much straight to the stomach from what it sounds like. He lives in Montana so I am just being relayed the info.

I had my times wrong. he starts his treatments this week. He said they will last about 2-2.5 hrs each. I will give an update as soon as I hear from him again. I am sure he will give an update mid week.

Really sorry to hear that. Cancer sucks and chemo is a bitch. Esophageal is a tough one too. As for treatments, there's a lot of different variations of chemo out there. Some can be rather mild, but most is like loading up on the poison just enough so that it doesn't kill you. Not fun at all. He has a really rough road ahead of him. I wish the best for him.

OP, I'd suggest just doing what you can to help the family out. If he has grass to mow, knock it out for him. Bring the family a meal once in a while. That sort of thing helps a lot and is easy to do. If he's a tough guy by nature, this will be hard for him as he'll likely feel weak.

For those interested, esophageal cancer has many factors for occurring. It's typically brought on by irritation of the esophagus, which is the pipe that dumps food into your gut. Things that irritate it are reflux/heartburn, smoking, alcohol, weight, etc. A healthy lifestyle won't guarantee that you will be cancer free, but it certainly lowers your odds. This cancer is more prevalent in older males.

got some pretty good news last night. He may not need the feeding tube for a bit. The doc was surprised he was doing good without the tube so they were going to fight against putting one in just yet.

He also went ahead and shaved off all his hair yesterday. He started his chemo and is now on both chemo and radiation treatments and is only complaining of fatigue still. The doc is also going to put a port in so he doesn't keep getting poked around with needles. Says his symptoms have been mild thus far.